Dekalog 03: On Film Festivals »

Richard Porton is editor at Cineaste and has taught film studies at the College of Staten Island, Hunter College, Rutgers University, and New York University. He is the author of Film and the Anarchist.

In an increasingly "event-driven" cultural environment, film festivals have become indispensable venues for exposure and promotion. Yet are Cannes, Sundance, and Toronto being sabotaged by their own success? Do these festivals truly serve the needs of cinephiles, as well as the larger public? This multifaceted collection of essays, memoirs, and impassioned polemics explores the decades-long debate over these controversial questions. Featuring a distinguished array of critics and programmers, the anthology begins with the first appearance in English of André Bazin's 1955 essay "The Festival Viewed as a Religious Order" and follows with essays examining the ongoing tension between market-oriented "business festivals" and festivals devoted to the needs of local audiences. Case studies assess the shifting fortunes of Asian film festivals, such as Hong Kong and Pusan, exemplary, cinephilic festivals, as in Vienna, Kino Otok, and Trieste, and one catastrophically mismanaged festival: Bangkok. The volume concludes with an exclusive interview with the fimmaker Atom Egoyan, whose career has been nurtured by his participation in a variety of international film festivals.